Edmund looked around and saw his sword stuck in a destroyed building to his right. He slowly walked there, jumped, and grabbed the sword handle. His weight didn’t free the sword, so he tried to move from left to right. While doing this, he thought to himself.
‘If I’m having difficulty doing this, imagine fighting that thing again; I’m so dead.’ He moved left to right while holding the sword.
Finally, the sword got unstuck, and his legs hurt a lot when he fell to the ground, making him scream. Then, a radio operator came running towards him with a worried expression.
‘Edmund, the two of them are in that direction, and from what I’m picking up on the radio, they are fighting among the soldiers.’ The radio operator spoke frantically.
‘Thanks.’ Edmund started to run slowly, following the two's path of destruction.
Luther and Sorth left an alley and saw Edmund running and the radio operator standing there just watching. The two got closer, and the radio operator turned to face them.
‘Why aren’t you following him?’ Sorth frowned.
‘I don’t know.' The radio operator looked back at Edmund as he vanished into an alley.
‘Come on!!’ Luther started to run, following Edmund.
‘Let’s go.’ Sorth looked at the radio operator and began running.
‘Yeah.’ He nodded at her and followed right behind.
Ariadne was still fighting against the guardian, but it wasn't much of a fight. It was more like she was preventing the thing from going after the soldiers when the trucks fell back to recharge their weapons and carry the wounded back to the field hospital.
'No, you won't!’ Ariadne shouted.
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As the guardian dashed toward the fleeing trucks, she came to its side and tried to slice it in half, but it blocked. Instead of simply being pushed toward the side of a building, she was tired, dripping in sweat; it was already clear that she couldn’t beat it alone; it blocked her every strike. Even if the guardian was weaker, the fight was draining her; it was just too much.
It looked at Ariadne with eyes that passed anger. Even if its face was icy, it jumped towards her and swung its sword, trying to slip her head open. She blocked but couldn’t counter it, making her be pushed back. The guardian now was focusing on her, and their clashes were loud, and Ariadne was being cut in the exchanges, some even deep but not profound enough to kill her. The situation was getting out of hand.
Edmund exited an alley and saw Ariadne fighting the guardian in the street, exchanging powerful blows. He followed those sounds for a while, but she wasn’t fighting like before. She was slower, sloppier, and tired.
‘Ariadne!!!’ Edmund Shouted.
The two stopped fighting momentarily as the guardian looked back and saw another enemy, and Ariadne saw hope.
‘What are your orders?’ He shouted again.
She took this opportunity to strike the guardian, but like every time before, it was blocked and pushed back, forming a gap between them.
‘Peasant, destroy him!’ She shouted, pointing at the guardian with her sword.
‘As you wish.’ He muttered.
He ran there, but his body was in pain. Dragging the sword was already demanding, but Edmund’s grip on his sword tightened when he listened to her command. The pain and tiredness didn't go away. He just entered a battle position, pretending his body had no damage, but he felt everything and gritted his teeth, trying to endure it.
Edmund dashed toward the guardian, who did the same. The two clashed, swinging their swords around and pushing one another back and forth. Edmund gracefully dogged and countered the attacks, even lading, making the guardian fly toward the now-empty plaza. Ariadne used this time to rest momentarily and noticed someone on the third floor watching the two fight.
The duo recorded the battle from the beginning; he stayed behind to record Ariadne, and now Edmund battled the guardian. The sight was so impossible because of the way Edmund moved that he had to check if it wasn’t an illusion by rubbing his eyes. Some moves had Edmund being launched against the buildings, but he recovered mid-air and launched himself toward the guardian, giving the abomination no time to react.
From Edmund’s perspective, on the other hand, it was like he was being torn apart. Like before, even when he hit the guardian, he had no lasting damage, as he healed right after. It was like he was being tortured, a passenger in a painful, wild ride in his own body. She overlooked Edmund's suffering, only that the guardian was no match for him. At the same time, it didn’t matter; it healed right after.
With that, Ariadne entered the fight; it was like when they fought the guardian for the first time, a synchronized dance that made everything more manageable, even allowing her to cut the guardian a few times. However, it was still fast and strong enough to dodge a fatal blow.
When Edmund was kicked right on his chest and flew across the plaza, hitting the side of a destroyed building, Ariadne was again facing it alone, struggling not to get hit by his sword. Edmund’s consciousness drifted for a moment as he almost passed out.
Edmund got up without noticing it, and his vision blurred. He looked at his sword, and just from the shape of it, it was only half of it. His sword was being chopped away as he traded blows in the fight. Edmund got out of the cloud of dust that had formed from the impact. His body positioned himself like he was going to throw his sword. Hee ran but only took eight steps before launching his sword towards the guardian as it fought against Ariadne.